At the meeting of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, Hungary's foreign minister pointed out that humanity is living in an era of dangers, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the global security situation has not been this bad since the Second World War, says the statement issued by the Hungarian ministry of foreign affairs and trade.
He said there are some thirty ongoing armed conflicts in the world alongside many frozen conflicts and explosive situations in many other parts of the world, making everyday life difficult.
Hungary has been living in the shadow of the war in Ukraine for nearly a thousand days now, and being an immediate neighbor of Ukraine, has been paying the price of a war for the outbreak of which Hungary does not bear any kind of responsibility, he stressed.
He warned that the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East could both have serious impacts on global security, and that the international community is in the last hour when it comes to avoiding an even greater crisis.
And in this situation, the UN has three key duties. Firstly, it should prevent the re-emergence of blocs in the world and ensure that we do not return to the Cold War era, because the whole world would lose on it,
he said.
"Secondly, it has an important role to play in bringing the current war conflicts to a peaceful end as soon as possible. Thirdly, in the case of explosive situations, it should prevent the outbreak of armed conflicts," he added.
Peter Szijjarto noted the the UN was not established as a group of like-minded countries, but as a platform for dialogue, even between opposing parties, and a return to this original function would be more important now than ever.
In this context, he called it unacceptable that the representatives of the world's leading powers are not ready to talk to each other.
Being part of the global pro-peace majority, Hungary is taking its share in peace-building efforts, including the UN peacekeeping missions in Lebanon, Kosovo, Cyprus and the Western Sahara, he said. The Hungarian government contributed four million US dollars to these missions last year, he added.
Finally, he welcomed the peace plan by Brazil and China for settling the war in Ukraine, expressing the hope that the international community will be ready to take it into serious consideration.
Cover photo: Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto speaks at the UN headquarters in New York on September 25, 2024 (Photo: AFP)
